By Isobel Chambers
I am extremely nosy about what music people enjoy. It reveals something closer to a person than, say, their favourite food or colour. But, do I have the courage to turn my insatiable curiosity - (bordering on judgement) - toward my own playlists? To remain musically humble, I will be analysing tracks off my own On Repeat curated Spotify playlist, indiscriminately.
#Neverforget the tragic exam block when 'All Too Well' lasted a consecutive ninety-seven days.
Guilt-less Pleasure;
Matthew Francey of Ministry of Sound dubbed the record as "so poor it became almost enjoyable,". However, I saw that 'Promising Young Woman' scene where Bo and Carey lip-sync to this song in a Superdrug and it has not left since.
Paris serves the sounds of Y2K glitter-gloss whilst conveying her feminist wits. I need to question - Why should pop culture be considered low culture?
Stones Person or Beatles Person?;
It takes dedication to have a 6:18 minute song in On Repeat. In the controversially innovative track, Mick Jagger sings in the first-person perspective of the Devil to analyse the darkness of humanity. As my answer to one of the most significant polls in music history, Sympathy For The Devil represents the finest of the glimmer twins and a classic 'I-don't-know-how-to-dance-to-this-but-that-won't-stop-me' song.
Unashamed Ugly Crying;
Eric Clapton called John Mayer a master guitarist, Mayer played with BB King in 2009. The live rendition from 2008 reveals the musical capabilities of his talent and strikes all of the emotional chords needed to induce the capturing of tragic crying selfies.
Well, this is awkward;
"It was a really lousy thing for her to do.” (Mayer)
Scathing, humiliating, and phenomenal, her success evoking pure Schadenfreude. Dear John demonstrates yet another emotion-fuelled track in my On Repeat and thus, how I am feeling riddled with near-graduation existentialism.
Karaoke Go-To;
It took me three weeks of intense cognitive training back in 2019, but my greatest achievement is learning this verbatim. I selected my 2020 Modern History Decolonisation Investigation topic because Billy Joel included it.
I don't know what this says about me, but it says something.
BELT IT OUT:
Perhaps my favourite, and most repeated, track on the list - I will scream it out regardless of location, setting or etiquette expectation. Gang of Youths give us Aussie authenticity and an insight into their front man's mental health battle.
Overarchingly, I like to think this conveys eclecticism.
Then again, the lines are blurred when my biggest fear is someone seeing the Ratatouille soundtrack from my emotional playlist in the 'friend activity' tab. Is that too harsh on myself? or just #Casuallycruelinthenameofbeinghonest.